Slash-and-Burn Agriculture: The Search for Alternatives

489 Pages·2005·3.96 MB·English

by  Cheryl Palm, Stephen A. Vosti, Pedro A. Sanchez, Polly J. Ericksen

slash-and-burn agriculture
Slash-and-Burn Agriculture
the search for alternatives
Edited by Cheryl A. Palm, Stephen A. Vosti,
Pedro A. Sanchez, and Polly J. Ericksen
A Collaborative Publication by the Alternatives to Slash and Burn Consortium,
the World Agroforestry Centre, The Earth Institute at Columbia University,
and the University of California, Davis
c o l u m b i a u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s n e w y o r k
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2005 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Part opening art: Part 1, Yurimaguas, Peru. (Photo by Pedro Sanchez.) Part 2, Nkolbisson, Cameroon.
(Photo by Pedro Sanchez.) Part 3, Krui Sumatra, Indonesia. (Photo by Pedro Sanchez.) Part 4, Manaus,
Brazil. (Photo by Erick Fernandes.) Part 5, New slash-and-burn field in Pedro Peixoto, Acre, Brazil.
(Photo by Pedro Sanchez.)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Slash-and-burn agriculture : the search for alternatives / edited by Cheryl A. Palm … [et al.].
p. cm.
A collaborative publication by the Alternatives to Slash and Burn consortium, and others.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0–231–13450–9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0–231–13451–7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn (Programme)—Congresses. 2. Shifting cultivation—Tropics—
Congresses. 3. Shifting cultivation—Environmental aspects—Tropics—Congresses. 4. Deforesta-
tion—Control—Tropics—Congresses. I. Palm, C. A. (Cheryl Ann) II. Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn
(Programme)
S602.87.S63 2005
631.5'818—dc22
A
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xi
Contributors xv
Acronyms and Abbreviations xxi
I The Problem and Approach
1 A lternatives to Slash and Burn: Challenge and Approaches of an
International Consortium
P edro A. Sanchez, Cheryl A. Palm, Stephen A. Vosti, Thomas P. Tomich,
and Joyce Kasyoki 3
II Thematic Research
2 C arbon Losses and Sequestration After Land Use Change in the
Humid Tropics
C heryl A. Palm, Meine van Noordwijk, Paul L. Woomer, Julio C. Alegre,
Luis Arévalo, Carlos E. Castilla, Divonzil G. Cordeiro, Kurniatun Hairiah,
Jean Kotto-Same, Appolinaire Moukam, William J. Parton, Auberto Ricse,
Vanda Rodrigues, and Syukur M. Sitompul 41
3 G reenhouse Gas Fluxes in Slash and Burn and Alternative Land Use
Practices in Sumatra, Indonesia
D aniel Murdiyarso, Haruo Tsuruta, Shigehiro Ishizuka, Kurniatun Hairiah,
and Cheryl A. Palm 64
4 T he Potential Role of Above-Ground Biodiversity Indicators in
Assessing Best-Bet Alternatives to Slash and Burn
Andrew N. Gillison 83
vi Contents
5 B elow-Ground Biodiversity Assessment: Developing a Key Functional
Group Approach in Best-Bet Alternatives to Slash and Burn
D avid E. Bignell, Jerome Tondoh, Luc Dibog, Shiou Pin Huang,
Fátima Moreira, Dieudonné Nwaga, Beto Pashanasi,
Eliane Guimarães Pereira, Francis-Xavier Susilo, and Michael J. Swift 119
6 S ustainability of Tropical Land Use Systems After Forest Conversion
Kurniatun Hairiah, Meine van Noordwijk, and Stephan Weise 143
7 T he Forest for the Trees: The Effects of Macroeconomic Factors on
Deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia
Andrea Cattaneo and Nu Nu San 170
III Site-Specific Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn Agriculture
8 S ustainable Forest Management for Smallholder Farmers in the
Brazilian Amazon
M arcus V. N. d’Oliveira, Michael D. Swaine, David F. R. P. Burslem,
Evaldo M. Bráz, and Henrique J. B. de Araújo 199
9 P ermanent Smallholder Rubber Agroforestry Systems in Sumatra,
Indonesia
Gede Wibawa, Sinung Hendratno, and Meine van Noordwijk 222
10 C offee, Pastures, and Deforestation in the Western Brazilian Amazon:
A Farm-Level Bioeconomic Model
Chantal L. Carpentier, Stephen A. Vosti, and Julie Witcover 233
11 S mallholder Options for Reclaiming and Using Imperata cylindrica
L. (Alang-Alang) Grasslands in Indonesia
P ratiknyo Purnomosidhi, Kurniatun Hairiah, Subekti Rahayu,
and Meine van Noordwijk 248
IV National Perspectives
12 The Western Brazilian Amazon
Judson F. Valentim and Stephen A. Vosti 265
13 The Forest Margins of Sumatra, Indonesia
Soetjipto Partohardjono, Djuber Pasaribu, and Achmad M. Fagi 291
Contents vii
14 The Forest Margins of Cameroon
J ames Gockowski, Jean Tonyé, Chimere Diaw, Stefan Hauser, Jean Kotto-Same,
Rosaline Njomgang, Appolinaire Moukam, Dieudonné Nwaga,
Téophile Tiki-Manga, Jerome Tondoh, Zac Tschondeau, Stephan Weise,
and Louis Zapfack 305
15 The Peruvian Amazon: Development Imperatives and Challenges
D ouglas White, Manuel Arca, Julio Alegre, David Yanggen, Ricardo Labarta,
John C. Weber, Carmen Sotelo-Montes, and Héctor Vidaurre 332
16 Northern Thailand: Changing Smallholder Land Use Patterns
P lodprasop Suraswadi, David E. Thomas, Komon Pragtong,
Pornchai Preechapanya, and Horst Weyerhaeuser 355
V Cross-Site Comparisons and Conclusions
17 L and Use Systems at the Margins of Tropical Moist Forest: Addressing
Smallholder Concerns in Cameroon, Indonesia, and Brazil
Stephen A. Vosti, James Gockowski, and Thomas P. Tomich 387
18 B alancing Agricultural Development and Environmental Objectives:
Assessing Tradeoffs in the Humid Tropics
T homas P. Tomich, Andrea Cattaneo, Simon Chater, Helmut J. Geist,
James Gockowski, David Kaimowitz, Eric F. Lambin, Jessa Lewis, Ousseynou
Ndoye, Cheryl A. Palm, Fred Stolle, William D. Sunderlin, Judson F. Valentim,
Meine van Noordwijk, and Stephen A. Vosti 415
Index 441
Foreword
his remarkable volume addresses the sustainable management of tropical
Tforests with unstinting sophistication, moving the analysis beyond cli-
chés to the true complexities of the challenge. The world’s tropical forests, in
Latin America, Africa, and Asia, are being cut down, at enormous costs to local
and global biodiversity and ecosystem services. The carbon released by tropical
deforestation is a significant factor in the overall increase in atmospheric green-
house gases. Yet the “best bets” to deal with the challenge of tropical deforesta-
tion remain far from obvious. The studies collected here offer new conceptual
tools and a rich compendium of empirical analyses that will be needed to for-
mulate a set of viable responses to this major global challenge.
The traditional interpretation of tropical deforestation has usually pro-
ceeded in something like the following way. A rising population of smallholder
farmers at the forest margin—the boundary between farm and forest—leads
to deforestation as forests are cut to make room for new farms. At the same
time, existing farmland is abandoned because of land degradation, soil erosion,
and soil nutrient depletion. The loss of existing farmland is exacerbated by the
pressure of shortened fallows, caused by the rise of population densities. In this
traditional view, the best way to slow or stop deforestation would be to raise
productivity on existing farms in a sustainable manner—for example, through
the systematic replenishment of soil nutrients, so that pressures to expand into
new lands can be eased.
There are of course important aspects of truth in this conventional view,
but as the studies in this volume make clear, the situation is far more complex.
Natural population growth on the forest margin is not the only, or even the
key, driver of deforestation. Population growth often results from in-migration
of settlers, rather than from the natural population increase among existing
residents. Ironically, in such circumstances, intensification of agricultural tech-
niques, even in a sustainable manner, can increase rather than decrease the rate
of deforestation, by raising the profitability of farming and thereby inducing
the in-migration of settlers to the forest margin. There may be a strong case for
improving the productivity of agricultural practices, but that step alone may
not solve the problem of deforestation.